Here's a follow up regarding actors and SAG waivers
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Actors have to acquire 3 SAG waivers before they can join the union. SAG waivers are issued to non-union actors who perform in a SAG production.

EXCEPT for the Experimental Film Agreement. You will not be issued a SAG waiver for non-union actors you use under the Experimental Film Agreement.

The experimental agreement has been replaced by the short film and ultra low budget agreement.
There is currently not an agreement that would allow deferred pay for feature length projects without obtaining a waiver directly from SAG.

I was disappointed to see them do away with the Experimental Film agreement :-(

I'm currently gearing up for a short under the Short film agreement. There is still a mountain of paperwork, but I think it will be worth it considering the level of talent responding to the notices.

Also, you can only defer salaries, you must pay mileage and any meal penalties.

I was speaking with my local SAG rep and the LA SAG rep, and they seem to be very accommodating about the Ultra Low budget agreement, etc. We're talking about $100/day + local employment law compliance (workers comp, etc.) which seems reasonable. My understanding about deferred payment is that it's a tough one to legally enable in any meaningful way.

Moderator: the initial posts in this thread are simply out of date and should be removed in the interests of clarity. Someone reading just the first few posts would have an incorrect idea of the current situation.

Yeah, the new agreements rule out deferred pay for feature length.
Maybe, if you're not in the NY or LA regions you could beg for a deferral, but it will be tough.
I think current pay for ultra-low budget features is $100 day. Since they have to be covered under workers comp etc, I think that works out to $135 a day, once all the taxes etc are handled.

I think that works out to $135 a day, once all the taxes etc are handled.

This is indeed a very fair price to pay for any SAG actor. If you can get a B, or even a C player in your film, it way, way increases your distribution and sales potential.

Even if, say, you live in a city like Phoenix, if you had a B player who liked your script, you could fly them out, put them up in an okay hotel or someone's nice guest room, and get them to work on your film for a day for a total cost of SAG/air/food, of couple hundred bucks.

I'm not going to drop any names, but my experience in trying to get B players has been mostly quite positive. Their agents and managers are often more than willing to hear what you have to say and read your (WGA registered and copyrighted) script, especially if you are familiar with this SAG rule and mention it up front. There are some who aren't interested in something under mid-six figures, but most of them are at least open to hearing what you have to say and reading your writing.